Gin Boom with @mspmag

Tonight is the Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine’s Tastemakers event. I went to one of these about a year ago when they had some local cocktail magicians talk about the craft cocktail renaissance in Minnesota. This time the topic is Gin.

Not long ago, gin would have been a strange topic for a Minnesota based discussion. Sure, Prairie launched a gin to go with their vodka about a year ago. But one gin does not a boom make. We’re now home to Far North Spirit’s Solveig*, Vikre’s** Boreal line of Cedar, Spruce, and Juniper, and Norseman’s recent addition of gin. This, my friends, this is a gin boom. (There are even more, but these are the ones I’ve tasted!)

Tonight’s event will have representatives from all four distilleries on hand to pour samples and talk about why and how this boom is happening. Tickets are now sold out (though there may be a few at the door) but you can try the cocktails at home because they were kind enough to publish the featured recipes.

Just to explain a little of my excitement, I always keep an eye on the Tastemaker events because I enjoyed the last one I attended. Several months ago when they posted that the topic was “Gin Boom,” I immediately put it on my calendar and invited my friends. This was before they announced who would be speaking or anything. So yes, I have been anxiously waiting for tonight. Anxiously, but not patiently! YAY!

*Their website says “\SOUL•Vai\” which I interpret as soul-vie. That said, I tend to say soul-vay. When we went to a tasting, the rep said they didn’t care how we pronounce it as long as we keep drinking it!

**I was chatting with Colin from Bent Paddle Brewing about his partnership with Vikre and discovered that my pronounciation of Vie-kre was wrong – it should be Vee-kre. Now you can sound smarter than me!